A-006: Mokele-mbembe
Status and Warnings * Activity unknown. Last documented sighting appears to have been in 2000. * Validity is unknown, but unlikely due to climate change. * Danger: Possibly carnivorous,and said to have poisonous meat. Is supposedly hostile to humans. * Content warnings for death. * Original article by Axolotl (Alex), edited by Jade. Description A-006 has been described by natives of Zimbabwe as being the ‘Mokele-mbembe’(meaning one who stops the flow of rivers), sometimes said to be a creature and sometimes a spirit. It is an enormousness reptile with long neck and only one tooth, as well as the creature having brownish color with smooth skin. It was described to live in caves. It is at times described as being carnivorous, often eating the local hippopotamus population, and is other times said to be an herbivore. It is said to leave foots prints that are rounded in shape, between 30 to 90 centimeters (1 to 3 feet) in diameter with three claws. The distance between tracks is about 2.1 to 2.4 meters (7 to 8 feet). There are many conflicting reports as to whether this creature makes any noise. It is most often likened to a sauropod dinosaur, despite the fossil record showing phenomenal evidence that sauropods did not survive past the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (K-Pg extinction). History The Mokele-mbembe was first mentioned in 1909 and was labelled as being as looking like a brontosaurus. It's supposed location is Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, this was said by locals to the famed Carl Hagenbeck, a big game hunter. The locals described the creature as being “half Elephant and half Dragon”. Another source of evidence was that another big game hunter at the time Hans Schomburgk said that there was a lack of hippos at Lake Bangweulu , natives there said that a large creature was killing them all. Later on in 1913 another German hunter, in Cameroon, came across a similar discovery. A survey was conducted on the german colony - at the time- of Cameroon. A Von stein ordered to conduct a survey, his results from natives were that of descriptions and stories, as well as the name of mokele mbembe. “Another report comes from German Captain Ludwig Freiherr von Stein zu Lausnitz de, as described by Willy Ley in Exotic Zoology (1959). Von Stein was ordered to conduct a survey of German colonies in what is now Cameroon in 1913. He heard stories of an enormous reptile called "Mokéle-mbêmbe" alleged to live in the jungles, and included a description in his official report. Explanations * The creature is likely a native myth. * The creature may be a giant lizard with a long neck, a rhino, an elephant, or possibly a large pangolin. The most credible and popular explanation is that of it being a rhino. Rhinos do not live in the basin any more, instead it is thought to be a product of mythology and folk memory from when rhinos did live in the area. * The creature may be a sauropod dinosaur. This is unlikely, due to it needing to have survived past the K-Pg extinction. Category:Anomaly Category:Cryptid